Tasmania March 2003

It’s the Saturday before the ride to Tassie and I am at Red Wing having a new rear tyre fitted to my Blackbird because I don’t think the original Bridgestone will last the kms I expect to do in Tassie. I am talking to Jack re the up and coming ride and he realises that I am riding with Ben who has a problem with the alternator on his Fireblade. Jack comments that Ben is having difficulty getting a replacement alternator in time before the Tasmania trip. Ben and I cross paths and he has the faulty alternator in hand trying to source a replacement. As it turns out, he had to borrow one from HRC. I wish him luck as I go off home to try a different combination of cameras and video recorder on my Black Bird.

Saturday 8^th, Pentridge to Tasmania

Pentridge to Station Pier:

Carmen and I are up early to catch the ferry to Tassie. It’s raining so leaving Pentridge it is a slow ride to Port Melbourne, loaded up with all our clothing, camera equipment and lap top for Carmen to do her home work on (if she has some spare time).

We get into Port Melbourne to top up with fuel and have to follow a garbage truck that must be carrying the smelliest waste; I found it hard to hold my breath until we got to the typical sea smells of the bay. The traffic was queuing up well before Station Pier so we did the bike thing and passed them all, on the wrong side of the road. At the entrance to Station Pier we found Tim, who had been there about 5 minutes. It wasn’t a long wait before a few more riders turned up.

We met a couple on a BMW bike who stopped to chat – they had ridden down from Deniliquin, NSW, and were meeting up with other bikers in Tasmania.

Station Pier to Tasmania:

We went up on deck to watch as the ferry went through the heads and I heard someone ask “Where are the chimneys?” Investigation later confirmed the ferry has five funnels.

About four hours out of Melbourne the ferry was going through some rough seas, heavy rains and a strong wind. The wind was so strong that Carmen had to be rescued from being blown over. A lot of people were on deck looking very green. Carmen was sea sick, even though she had taken natural remedies, which also came up. I got the sympathetic feeling and was sick also. The rest of the group felt woozy but held it down.

I spent some time in the cinema, trying to recover from seasickness, then later in the lounge met up with Carmen and the BMW couple again. A couple of hours chatting with them killed some time – they also needed relief from that sickly feeling

We arrived in Devonport, just after 7 pm, in cloudy but fine weather and rode the coast road to Latrobe. The Hotel had a major mix up with the rooms over booked. Cliff ended up on the floor and Carmen and I were moved three times until we had a small, double room. The problem we had was the large room we should have had was given to three older sisters, who, at 3 am, had to yell to each other while they went to the toilet, which was next to our room, keeping everyone awake.

Sunday 9^th, Latrobe to Cradle Mountain to Latrobe

We awoke at daybreak to a mild day and went to have breakfast at the local bakery. The group, including the Moore clan, went on a ride to Cradle Mountain, whereas Carmen and I were planning to catch up with my Uncle in Burnie. I couldn’t contact my uncle so we did a short ride through the mural painted streets of Sheffield, luckily at a reasonable pace as the local constabulary was hiding in the bushes. Then around Lake Barrington and on through Moina to Cradle Mountain. One thing Tasmania has to offer is amazing road kill: on nearly ever corner we found some poor dead animal.

My new camera set up has some teething problems: at the first check it had no sound, next stop I found the video cable had come out from the bouncing around, so I moved the camera to the tank bag.

I am not sure of the exact place but we came across one of the many hydro dams. The view was something to write home about. Next when back on the main road passing some traffic at speed the undulating road made the bike do some impressive negative Gs.

Up at Cradle Mountain we did a short walk through the Enchanted Wood – very pretty, waterfalls, creeks, ferns, moss. Then headed back, around 3.30pm, taking a different route from Moina, to see the other side of Lake Barrington.

We got back to Latrobe after 5 pm and did a walk around the old town – weatherboard shops with verandahs – very pretty. Visited the Doll Shop – life-size dolls with amazing costumes.

Monday 10^th , Latrobe to Dover

When we got to Poatina, Carmen and I went ahead of the group to take photos of a rock formation at Sandbanks Tier. You have to see this to believe that the rocks are just hanging on the cliff face and don’t fall down.

Over the top of Mt Blackwood Rocks we had low, misty cloud resulting in very low visibility. The camera was working, but still with sound problems. Ian, who was the rear rider, would disappear from view on occasions.

At Bothwell, Rob went the wrong way after the fuel stop. Ian chased him for 15 kms, then gave up and came back to join the group behind me, as rear rider again.

When riding through Bagdad I noticed how close the bush fires got to the town, almost singeing the buildings.

There was light drizzle at Geeveston so Carmen and I rode directly to Dover to shower and rest. The others went to the Huon River Airwalk. We got to Dover (Port Esperance) at 4 pm.

Tuesday 11^th , Dover – Hobart - Dover

We got up late and decided to do a short ride around the coast of D’Entrecasteaux Channel. The route took us through Huonville, Cygnet, Gordon, Snug and on to Hobart.

I noticed the chain was loose so with the Honda tools I tried to adjust it. Who said Jap tools are strong? The spanner broke and so we left with a loose chain at around 11 am.

The roads had very little traffic. We did about 60 km with two thirds of that distance being on good biker bends. We noticed houses for sale with their prices on the “For Sale” board. The letterboxes were novel: various shapes, designs and sizes. Some included mannequins sitting on seats, others were so lifelike it became hard to tell whether they were real or not. We got into Hobart for lunch at the wharf, at Waterman’s Dock Restaurant, which ended up being quite expensive for the amount of food.

In town at a tyre shop, we borrowed tools from a friendly old mechanic, to adjust the bike chain. During the works he gave us some touristy tips.

Hobart was too much of a challenge with its traffic to do the touristy trips so we decided to head back to the country. At Geeveston we did the Airwalk, Keogh’s Creek and “Walk on Water” .

Returning to Dover we noticed a house infatuated with the colour aqua – the whole house, roof, windows, doors, veranda, walls were painted aqua. There was a woman in the garden, and you guessed it, she was wearing aqua coloured clothes.

Wednesday 12^th, Dover – Southport - Dover

Today we decided to have a rest day and took a short ride down to Southport. There was plenty of sun and we rested on the whiter than white sandy beach.

Going through windy roads to Southport at a reasonable pace I came across a Nissan Xtrail police 4WD. Being double lines for about 30 kilometres, and with the police car only doing 80 km/h, I thought I was in for a slow ride to Southport, until they pulled over into the gravel and waved us through!

I was concentrating on the mirrors to keep a check on the police car and two corners later came across a 4 foot black snake that must have felt the bike coming towards it and reared up to strike. I executed quick evasive action and the old heart missed a few beats.

We got to Southport through road works, which had the first layer of freshly laid bitumen, still hot and steamy. We stripped off our bike gear and sun baked for a couple of hours and then decided to move on to Hastings Caves and the thermal springs along a hard packed, dirt road. We decided not to go in as you had to pay and the thermal springs were in a man-made pool.

We met a family: dad and daughter on one TL Suzuki, and mother on another TL. They had ridden down from Darwin to tour around Tasmania. He commented about the roads not being as straight as up north.

We came back to find Richard and Enzo in hospital. Ian filled us in on the details. There was much to talk about around the tea table after the day’s events.

Thursday 13^th, Dover to Swansea

(Refer to Ben’s details, but add in that he had to slow down for a police car just outside Huonville.)

We were to travel around on the coast road to Hobart but we had no rear rider so Cliff and I waited for no one to come. Cliff and I started the catch up process, but he was a little quicker than I was, and I lost sight of him.

Just the other side of Huonville Carmen saw a seaplane landing on the river. Trying to point it out to me, she found out two things: (1) putting your arm out to point at something when the bike is traveling at speed will almost rip your arm off, and (2) the bike becomes unstable when your body weight is moved by your arm getting ripped off.

We took the road to Hobart, wondering where the others were. Assuming that we were traveling too slowly, I picked up the pace. Still there were no bikers in sight. Then I noticed headlights in my mirror, and, thinking it was Gavin and Dave, slowed down. And there was the yellow bumblebee with the others close behind. After missing the turn to Hobart, Ben had followed the route I was already on. I picked up the pace to stay in the middle of the pack, pulling away from Rhys, Ian and Tim. That is, until Carmen got tired of hanging on, having to cope with my aggressive acceleration and braking antics, chasing Ben, Cliff and Rob through the twisties.

At Kettering we fueled up and I went rear rider. Up to Mt Wellington. I took it easy now, being two up through the traffic and road workmen.

Gavin and Dave caught up to us at the top after visiting Dave’s father Richard in hospital. Then it was down Mt Wellington to Hobart for lunch. The group had some difficulty passing a bus on the way down and I think by the time I got to it, the driver had had enough of bikers passing him. On a straight section, with what appeared to be plenty of room, we almost got sandwiched between the side of the bus and the cliff face as it moved over. Carmen was having kittens.

At the bottom of the mountain I caught up with Rob and his heavy braking for a car at a roundabout. He almost had a Blackbird in his pannier bags.

After lunch it was on through Hobart to Swansea, along the coast road with great views, though we had sore bums when got to Swansea.

Friday 14^th, Swansea to Bicheno to Swansea

Up early to watch the sunrise, but the low cloud made it unattractive. Breakfast on the beach then we looked around town. Prices were more expensive than Dover. Next we went to the bakery for lunch.

After lunch we rode to Freycinet National Park and Coles Bay, then up to Bicheno for an ice cream and to see the Blowhole. We met a New Zealand couple who told us the Blowhole was shooting water 30 feet in the air yesterday. They told us they had a problem with their accent when trying to buy “Air Mail” stickers at the post office. The post officer worker was convinced he didn’t sell “e-mail” stickers.

Riding back to Swansea I slowed down for a cop. Carmen didn’t see him and thought I was being considerate. Later, when we stopped at a lookout, Ben rode past. I tried to keep pace with him but loss of concentration through a corner saw me go a bit wide which earned me a warning thump in the ribs to slow down.

Back at the hotel on the beach Rob, Cliff, Carmen and I talked about the day’s events. We had parked our bikes on the beach in front of our rooms. Later, when Cliff went for a ride, he rode over the concrete block which left a tell tail strip of Kawasaki green paint on the block. The crashing noise was so loud that Ian, who was in his room, thought someone was coming through the wall.

Saturday 15^th, Swansea to Devonport via the NE coast

Up for breaky on the beach with Julie and Ben.

We went rear riders and the group stopped at Bicheno to see the Blowhole and take happy snaps. At the Chain of Lagoons Ben stopped the group and asked me to turn on the cameras, go first up Elephant Pass, so they could pass me for some good footage. I turned on the cameras and took off, like a cut cat (according to Ben) and then, realising the group wasn’t catching me, slowed down for them to pass. At the top we had morning tea: pancakes at the Elephant Pass Café. There was another group of older bikers there, riding two up. They’d traveled all the way from Queensland.

I checked the camera to find out it had failed, so I told the boys to pass me again on the way down, this time one at a time, to get footage from the rear camera coming up from behind me, then again pulling away, using the front camera. The camera failed again, which was just as well, because they all passed me together so it wouldn’t have worked anyway.

After a while we dropped off the pace of the others as the fumes and the bends were taking their toll on Carmen. We stopped at Derby for lunch and as the roads had been quite windy. Carmen was a little tired of hanging on, so we decided to break off from the group at Scottsdale. There were two routes to Devonport and we thought we would take what Ben thought was the easier way to Devonport. It turned out to have some bloody good corners that were begging to be taken at speed, particularly up and over the Sideling Range.

We met some local bikers from Launceston at the lookout and they gave us the run down of the roads and conditions to Devonport. They wished us well. As they left, a local family turned up in a beat up old Ford. From their comments and actions we guessed they were definitely local country people. They left the lookout before us, and when we caught up to them to pass, the mother and daughter in the back seat had their faces against the rear windscreen and the young kid was hanging out the rear window past his waist, yelling and screaming. I dropped it down one too many gears to pass and ended coming into the next corner a little hotter than necessary. This may have egged them on because I felt they wanted to chase me for a while. So Carmen had to hang on while I put some distance on them.

We got to Launceston for afternoon tea and then headed to Devonport via Exeter, Glengarry, Frankford and Harford along some pretty ordinary straight roads. We arrived at the hotel in Devonport around 6 pm and found the rest of the group had arrived about an hour earlier.

We did a walk through town to find somewhere light to eat and watched the ferry come in. From the top of town it looked like a Hollywood movie set with the three and four storey city buildings being dwarfed by the 10 deck ferry as it came up the river to berth.

Sunday 16^th, Devonport to Melbourne

I think we were all woken early by some other hotel guests packing up to leave at day break. Next we packed up all our stuff and headed for the ferry. It was running late so we boarded later than normal by about ½ an hour. Julie and Carmen didn’t get to park the car and meet up with us at the reception desk until the ship was almost underway.

The boat entertainment was the same movies as on the way over so I watched the movies I missed, between walking around the decks and reading the papers. By the end of the day the papers were read by all of us, from cover to cover, including the crossword!

We un-loaded at Station Pier to get home around 8pm. I went out and gave the bike a quick hot wash to clean off some of the grime, then we went over to Ben and Julie’s to collect our luggage.

Carmen and I had a great time and would like to thank everyone for making it an enjoyable holiday. When is the next trip? Now that I have looked at the film footage, I am disappointed and may have to do it all over again. I covered 1,850kms for the trip, door to door.

Martin and Carmen (Honda 2002 CBR1100XX)